Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Gay Marriage, Gavin, and Stanley



Just about every politician in San Francisco showed up in San Francisco City Hall at the crack of dawn to get their mugshots taken when the Supreme Court gay marriage rulings were handed down, including ex-mayor and current Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom above. The very public ceremony had finished, but he was still jabbering away in the North Light Court at 9:30 this morning. Newsom's signal achievement while in office was proposing that gays could get married in San Francisco whether it was legal in the rest of California or not, which initiated all kinds of litigious messes, including the ugly Proposition 8.



Whether he was helpful or hurtful to the cause of gay marriage is a matter of debate, but in every other way Newsom and his mayoral successor Edwin Lee have been disasters for the majority of San Franciscans, which makes it more than a little mortifying that they are crowing so publicly over this latest gay civil rights success as if they were single-handedly responsible.



By coincidence, my domestic partner of 17 years received the Casting Notice above via email yesterday, looking for gay couples who were separating or getting divorced for a new Bravo reality TV show.



Bah, enough cynicism. Walking South of Market on 8th Street later this morning, I came across a man walking his dog with a rainbow kerchief. "Can I take a photo of him?" I asked. "Sure, but she's a girl, though her name is Stanley so that certainly fits with the happy spirit of the day," he replied. There will be a street party this evening in the Castro at 6:30 PM and I am hoping that Stanley will be there and Gavin will not.

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